The Russell 3,000 is currently up 4.97% year to date, yet the average stock in the index is up 3.98% so far in 2012. This means that the bigger stocks in the market cap weighted index have been doing better than the smaller stocks.

Below is a list of the 35 best performing Russell 3,000 stocks year to date, which are all up more than 75%. There are 16 stocks in the index that are up more than 100% year to date. Arena Pharma (NASDAQ:ARNA) is leading the way at 220.86%, followed by Ellie Mae (NYSEMKT:ELLI) at 175.22% and Vivus (NASDAQ:VVUS) at 152.21%. Amylin Pharma (AMLN) and US Airways (LCC) round out the top five. Other notables on the list of 2012's big winners (so far) include Vertex Pharma (NASDAQ:VRTX), AOL, Zillow (NASDAQ:Z), Sears (NASDAQ:SHLD) and TripAdvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP).